This is a story I started May of 2008.

Chapter 1

"There's something strange and beautiful about that ship. Why the mermaid?"
"What? Oh, I dunno. Lots of ships have that. There's nothing weird or different about it."
"I know... it just feels...magical. Like there's a current, slowly pulling at me, carrying me towards it more and more all the time. Don't you feel it?"
"Um, no. Not really...I'm gonna go grab some lunch. You coming?"
"No. I'm not hungry."
"OK, well, I'll see you tonight."
"Ya. Bye, see you tonight!"
I rehearsed my conversation with Lia over and over in my mind. Why could I feel it? Why couldn't she? I just didn't get it. I heard my stomach growl, for the third time now. I had half-lied to Lia when she asked me about lunch. OK, I was hungry. I was just too distracted to think about it. But not any longer! I had waited long enough-I had eaten breakfast as soon as I got up (at seven) and now, it was 2:30! This had been my routine ever since school got out for summer break:
7:00-wake up. Make bed and get dressed.
7:10-Eat breakfast (usually a piece of fruit or a homemade smoothie, some toast and an egg)
7:20-go running along the beach
Then the rest of the day is spent swimming and hanging out at the pier with Lia.(more abt. that later)
I love running. That, of course, is why I wake up at seven every day. I want to get out when it is still cool, to feel the breeze on my body, to hear the peaceful, constant sound of the waves on the sand and the seagulls singing.
I promised you I would tell you more about Lia so here it is: Lia is my best friend in the whole entire world. Even though she doesn't have the same feelings as me sometimes, she understands me. We met each other at the beach a couple years ago and ever since have been best friends. She lives pretty close to me on the dock. I live in a house boat called the "King of the Sea" and she lives in a houseboat called "Ruler of the Waves". Isn't that cool? We both live on boats that are rulers! I'm an only child but Lia has 2 siblings; an older sister named Kamy-15 and a little brother named Will-5. Lia is 12, just like me. Our birthdays are actually only 3 days apart. Mine is June 2nt, hers is June 5th. Cool, huh?
"Jaci," My mom called.
"Coming, Mom." I ran down the wharf, picking up a few slim stones and slipping them into my pocket as I came to the "King".

"I really need you to clean your room before Lia comes over tonight! I thought I had asked you this morning."

"Man!" I just remembered. "I forgot, Mom. Sorry! I'll do it in a few minutes."

"No, Jaci. Your room has to be clean before you do anything else. You told me you'd do it in few minutes this morning, too!"

"Ugh. Fine." I walked slowly to my room. It's not like I thought stalling would get me out of it or anything, I guess I just wanted to 'postpone the pain'! I laid on my unmade bed and surveyed my large room. I'm lucky to have a big room, but, sometimes, it can be a pain. Like, whenever I have to clean my room, for instance! It's perfect for sleep-overs, though. My favorite part the blue room is my desk. It is an old, sanded white one with brass handles and has plenty of little shelves. I use the shelves as someplace to put my sea shell collection and my array of neat rocks. My lamp is right next to a stack of papers(well, usually a stack-my room does need cleaned, I guess!), pens and pencils for all the stories I write. But, the best part is the picture, right next to the lamp. In it's glass-beaded frame, it looks like just an ordinary picture. Just 3 girls in the water-that's me, Jaci, and Amè. Only the three of us know the whole story.

I had finished cleaning and now I pulled out my journal. I tried to write but no words came. Finally, I just turned on the radio, flipping through the stations. Nothing good was on. I couldn't wait until Lia came over for our sleep-over tonight. We had been having sleepovers every week since school got out and tonight was no different.

"Ding-dong"
"Jaci! Could you get the door? My hands are all soapy!"
"Ding-dong"
"Jaci!"
"What? Oh, OK, OK, I'm coming!" I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them as I walked through the kitchen to get to the front door.
"Finally! What were you doing in there," my mom asked me.
"I fell asleep. Hey, Lia! How come you didn't just come in?"
"I tried but the door was locked."
"Oh, sorry Lia," my mom apologized. "I was mopping and the door wouldn't stay shut; the wind kept pulling on that old thing."
"It's OK."
"Come on, Lia! I want to show you something," I called as I headed toward my room.
"Girls, dinner in a few minutes! Wash up!"
"OK, mom. Just a minute." I wanted to show Lia the rocks I found today first.
"Whoa, cool," she said as she picked up the blue one.
"I know! That's my favorite, too. But I think the orange-red one is beautiful."

After dinner, we helped clear off the table. I found a crumpled up napkin on the floor by her shoes. I was about to throw it away when I realized that a pencil was sticking out of her pocket. I asked her if I should throw the napkin away.
"No! Please don't throw it away. I'm working on a poem," she told me as she took it from my hand. I was about to ask if I could see it when she mouthed 'show you tonight'. I nodded and finished clearing away the table.

"Lights out, girls. Goodnight, Jaci, I love you."
"Night mom, love you too," I kissed her on the cheek before slipping into my bed.
"Goodnight Lia. See you girls in the morning."
"You too. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."
"If they do, use dynamite," my mom finished. It was our tradition to say that every night. A few minutes after mom shut the door, I crept out of bed and tiptoed to Lia's (the guest bed) across the room. "Show me the poem," I asked quietly.
"OK. I guess it's not really a poem. It's more like a song. Can I have some light?"
"Ya, just a sec," I got out my book light from my drawer and handed it to Lia.
"Thanks," It took her a minute to get out her napkin and find the tune, but when she started, the words seemed to float out on clouds across the sea. The bewitching tune was like liquid starlight. I couldn't believe she could come up with this out of nowhere. It was beautiful. The words themselves were nothing amazing. It was the music. It sounded magical, like something pulling, grasping, crying. I had the sudden and almost overpowering feeling to go. To go out to the ship. I didn't know why and I had no idea where it came from. I just knew something, or some one needed me. They were calling me. I had to go.

Chapter 2

"Where did you get that song from, Lia? I need to know," The words rushed out. I was walking around stuffing things into my swimming bag. Lia looked kind of taken-aback by my abruptness but answered anyway.

"Umm, I just heard a song in the wind. I was on the dock, looking at the ship and I heard it. It sounded beautiful."

"Really? Could you show me the exact spot that you were at? Please, come with me," I begged

"Where? What are you talking about? I don't understand. What's gotten into you?"

"Sorry," I slowed down and sat on Lia's bed. Then I started to explain. "Today, at the dock, do you remember when I kept talking about the ship?"

"Yah."

"Well, I just can't get it out of my mind. And as soon as you started singing, I had the

overwhelming sensation to go to the ship. I don't know why. But it feels like someone-or

something-is calling me. They need me. I have to help them."

"I…I felt it, too. Not as strong, though. I-I want to go. I want to help. And I want

to…to believe. I wish I felt it as much as you do. I wish I was as strong as you. I can

show you where I heard the song. It sounded beautiful, like magic, almost. Like nothing

I had ever heard before."

"Thanks, Lia. Thanks." We hugged silently for a moment before we started packing our few things.

"OK," I heard Lia mumble. "We need a flashlight, tennis shoes…"

"And your swimsuit. Bring your swimsuit," I added.

"OK. And a jacket. Should we bring towels?"

"Umm, sure. Good idea."

A few minutes later, we were doing our secret handshake and sneaking past my mom's closed door in the short hall. Her light was already off. Wow, she went to bed early tonight. Good.

"OK, you lead the way I whispered to Lia once we had crept through the door

onto the wharf. We ran quietly past unlit windows until Lia stopped at an old thick palm

tree. This place had a few of them around and a lot of young thin ones.

"OK, are your tennis shoes on?" she turned around to look at me.

"Ya. Where are we going?"

"Down there." She pointed down a small cliff to the smooth white beach below.

"What?" We were probably 8 or 10 feet up, too high to jump without breaking a couple bones.

"Oh, don't be silly we don't jump. Look." She pointed again, this time to the craggy brush on our left. I didn't see anything until she started moving a few bushes around. Then I saw it. A hidden path. It looked like it had been fairly well used for a while then forgotten enough to let the ivy start to cover it again and the bushes grow over. But if you moved things around a little, you could find it. We started through it, trying to avoid the thorny vines as we went. When we finally reached the bottom, it was beautiful. I felt like I melted into the snow white sand. The water was the clearest ocean water I had ever seen. It somehow managed to be a pretty blue-green while still being translucent. The few flat rocks that dotted the shore were almost a silvery gray. They seemed like ornaments on a snow-covered Christmas tree. I loved it here. How come I had never come before? Why hadn't she shown me this beautiful world?

"Lia."

"Yah?"

"This is beautiful. This is amazing. The feeling is so peaceful. So calm. So...magical."

"I know. I love it here."

"So do I. But why- well, why," I wasn't sure how to ask her without seeming mean. "Well, why didn't you-I mean, how long have you known about this place?'

She shot a 'sorry' look in my direction, like she knew what I meant.

"Well, about," she looked at the sand by our feet. "About 2 months," she quietly said. She didn't look up.

"Oh."

Suddenly she looked at me. "I'm sorry, Jaci. I should have told you. I can't explain it. Every time I tried to tell you, it's like something was stopping me. The words wouldn't come. I just felt like I should wait until the time was right...Are you mad," she added in a small voice.

"No, no. Of course not. I was just thinking. I-I understand what you mean. I actually don't think I would have appreciated it fully if I had found out a couple months ago."

She looked at me for a moment then slowly nodded. I knew she understood. After a few minutes of just looking out at the sea, she started to pull her swimsuit out of the bag. We hadn't dared to change at home-we were worried it would be too loud. I suddenly remembered why we were here. I knelt down and pulled my suit out, too. "Where do we dress?" I asked. I hadn't thought about that at home.

"Umm, if we go under the overhang, nobody would be able to see. Nobody's out, anyway but oh well. It just feels better."

"Ya. Let's go." We ran over to the overhang and started to take our jackets off. It wasn't cold and there was barely any wind tonight but we had brought them for after we got out of the water. I actually wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do. I just knew it would come when we got here. Now, in the light of the moon, the only thing that came to my mind was the ship. For some reason, I just kept thinking about her. She seemed to go along with the song Lia sang. We finished dressing then put our clothes and shoes in the beach bag. The sand felt unusually warm under our feet and it gave us a very at home feeling, like this was where we belonged.

"OK, now what?" Lia turned to me. "Well, I didn't really think this far ahead. But I think that we should go to the ship. I just can't get her out of my head." "Ya, good idea. Let's go." The boat was anchored a ways out. It wasn't right next to the dock like most ships are-it was a little ways out, far enough we were going to have to swim. I dropped the beach bag under the overhang, just in case somebody came and looked over the edge. We just wanted to be as secret as we could. As we jogged over to the water's edge, I thought about what we were about to do. Mom would freak if she found out, which made me stop in place for a second. 'No,' I assured my self. 'She's not going to find out. You'll tell her, when this is all over.' When will this be over, I wondered? When will I stop thinking about the ship? When will I be normal again?

We had reached the edge. I was suddenly worried about how cold the water could be. It had been dark for 3 hours now. Anyway, how much sun did this place get in the daytime? I was never around here to see. But I had to put away those worries. I dipped a toe in the water. Immediately this feeling of peace and serenity filled my body. The water was warm. I dropped to my knees and let the water flow over me until all but my head was encased in this liquid bliss. Finally, I held my breath and let myself go under. I was totally and completely filled with peace. I had no worry in the world, no stress, nothing that was anything other than felicity. I became someone other than myself, slipping in and out of my body. It seemed like a dream. I would forget everything for a moment and then, everything would come back to me. I would remember my entire life. But a minute later, my memory would be gone again. I had not a single problem in the universe. It felt so good.

I wanted to stay in there forever. I don't know how long I was under before Lia lightly pulled me up. "We should probably go to the ship now." "Yah. OK. I dunked my head one more time before slowly stepping out and looking again at Lia. "What do you think that was about? I mean, the feelings. The warmth." "I don't understand it either. The only answer is magic. Some kind of good magic," Lia answered, staring out at the ocean. Suddenly, I got an alarming thought.

"Lia." "Ya?" "Did you take a breath that whole time we were under?" "Umm, no. I don't think so. But I don't really remember." "Well, I don't think I took a breath either…weird. How long do you think we were under?" "I dunno. A long time, though." "Yah," we stayed there for a moment, not really looking anywhere specific. We just pondered. Then, we both started to get into the water again. We had to control ourselves. We couldn't let ourselves become overpowered by the mystical water. The only way to do that was to keep looking ahead at the ship, completely focused on her. If you let your mind slip or you remembered how tired you were, just for a second, you would start to become overtaken. It was so tiring. For some reason, it was hard to swim. I was using all my energy to push myself forward. I was using all my mind-power to keep myself going. I was worried about Lia. She was not as strong as me. Her figure was more slight and she weighed several pounds less. I was even more scared when I heard her call my name. "Jaci…I, I can't make it. You know I'm not strong enough. I can't keep myself up." She reminded me of a small child. "That is not true!" I said with determination. "You are going to make it. You are plenty strong enough. You are going to do fine." "No, Jaci. I can't do it. I'm pumping with all my might. I just can't do it." She started to slip under. I was really scared now. She had to make it. She had to. I saw her slip again and quietly call my name. "Lia!" I yelled. I grabbed her hand, trying to pull both her and myself to the ship. We were over halfway now, it would just be harder to go back. I kept tugging her, barely able to keep her head above water. I tried as hard as I could, using every drop of energy I had in me. But it was not enough.

We finally tried to just stay afloat. We decided it was hopeless to try to swim the 70 feet it took to get to the boat. But we were so tired. given up. "Lia," "What," she whispered. "Sing that song again. Please." "OK." I heard her breathing for a few minutes, building enough energy to sing. The words started to flow. The tune seemed to float across the ocean, reaching out. I didn't understand why but the song seemed special. It seemed like it had found us on purpose, like we were meant to have it for some strange reason. As Lia sang, the song brought peace. We calmed down. For a minute, I felt like we would get help. Somehow, someone-or thing-would be able to find us.

I suddenly heard rushing water-it sounded like a waterfall. Lia and I looked around, trying to find where the sound was coming from. We saw a whirlpool about 10 feet in front of us, getting bigger and bigger. We were terrified. Lia froze. She clung to me. Before I could do anything, though, the whirlpool started to diminish. As it disappeared, It left someone, or thing, beautiful in its place. I was amazed. I had never seen one before in my life. A real one, I mean. I knew Lia had never, either. I made myself move my eyes away to look at Lia. She almost made me laugh-she was there with her mouth hanging open and her eyes as wide as they could go. She forgot to tread water and she fell back, into the water. She came up sputtering and made me and the "thing" laugh. Lia turned red and looked down. "Are you alright," The thing asked. That made me stare. Its not that I didn't know what she was. Of course I did. I had been dreaming about and studying them my whole life. I thought I was kind of the expert on them. I guess I just never thought about them as, well, for one thing, real. I had hoped and dreamed and believed but never really actually thought they were real. And, for another, I never really thought about them talking. In English, I mean. I just never made that connection. But here she was, right before me. A true one. A mermaid.

"Come on," she looked at us. "I'll help you guys to shore-but, that's not where you wanted to go, was it?

"Well, no, not really."

"Ho…How did you know?" Lia's voice was small and quavering. I think she was kind of scared, like she couldn't believe this was happening.

"Well," The mermaid's voice was clear, strong. It sounded like a cool, beautiful stream. I had never heard anyone talk like that before. But I loved it. "If you were just out here to swim, you would have turned back miles ago! Don't you think I can tell the difference between someone out for a dip and someone who has a definite purpose?" She somehow said this without sounding rude or making us feel dumb. Something struck me. I knew I shouldn't say this but something inside me told me it was OK, that she would understand somehow.

"How come we're not, umm, drowning right now?"

She laughed an amazing laugh. Like music floating from a flute, her laughter glided wingless though the air. "I ordered it to stop." She could see that we were confused. "The water," she tried to clarify. "I ordered it to stop pulling on you… How about we go to shore," She asked, knowing that we didn't understand. "I'll explain there."